Bottle labeling machine

ABSTRACT

In a container labeling machine including a wrapping roll, means for dividing said roll into individual wrapping elements, means for receiving and applying said individual wrapping elements, and means for conveying containers past said receiving and applying means whereby a wrapping element is applied to each container, the improvement wherein said receiving and applying means includes displaceable orienting means, whereby the wrapping elements are brought from their initial orientation to a predetermined orientation relative to said containers thereby to ensure that said elements are applied in predetermined relationship relative to said containers. Thus, the label supply can feed square labels with an edge horizontal and the label can be rotated in its plane so that the edges are at a 45* or other angle relative to the horizontal, i.e. the machine can label with squares or diamonds.

BOTTLE LABELING MACHINE The invention relates to a labeling machine for bottles or the like, which has a device for wrapping the bottle neck or top in metal foil which is drawn from a supply roll, cut into individual segments and carried by means of a conveyor into the path of a continuously moving bottle. In particular, the invention relates to an apparatus which can be used for plain or diamond-style foil-wrapping.

Bottles are provided with several labels and their necks or tops are wrapped in foil usually by applying the labels by means of a labeling machine and applying the foil by means of a separate foil wrapping machine. Aside from the additional floor space that is required and the substantially greater machine investment and maintenance costs, there is also the need, especially in the case of printed foils and in the case of diamondstyle wrapping, to orient the printing, in the one case, and the diamond points in the other, with respect to the body label.

Labeling machines have become known which have a foil wr-apping system associated therewith so that the bottle is both labeled and foil wrapped in a single pass. In these machines too, since the labeling and the foilwrapping are generally not performed simultaneously, special measures must be taken in order to orient the piece of foil and the breast or body label with respect to one another, i.e., the foil and the label must be placed precisely one above the other. A decided disadvantage of the foil-wrapping systems of the prior art, however, is to be seen primarily in the fact that they are designed either for diamond-style wrapping only or for plain foil-wrapping only.

The invention is addressed to the problem of reducing the constructional cost of the prior-art machines of this kind and especially of creating a foil-wrapping system which will be usable in labeling machines and which will be suitable for the application of a piece of foil both in the diamond style and in the plain or horizontal style.

Specifically, in a container labeling machine including a wrapping roll, means for dividing said roll into individual wrapping elements, means for receiving and applying said individual wrapping elements, and means for conveying containers past said receiving and applying means whereby a wrapping element is applied to each container, in accordance with the invention the receiving and applying means includes displaceable orienting means, whereby the wrapping elements are brought from their initial orientation to a-predetermined orientation relative to said containers thereby to ensure that said elements are applied in predetermined relationship relative to said containers. The orienting means includes a rotatable element gripping means whereby said gripping means receives an element and thereafter rotates together with said element to bring said element in predetermined relationship relative to its container. The receiving and applying means includes a first rotatable transfer member carrying a plurality of said element gripping means rotatably mounted thereon and a second rotatable transfer member for bringing said oriented element to a location where it is picked up by a container as it is moved by said container conveying means.

This transfer means is provided with controlledmovement suction members which grasp the foil and,

for the purpose of orienting the foil, perform a limited rotary movement each about its own axis superimposed upon the rotational movement of the transfer means. The suction members are mounted for rotation at the free ends of pivoting levers which impart to the suction members a momentary acceleration of their arcuate displacement along the path between the feed means and the conveyor means. The arrangement is furthermore such that the transfer means disposed substantially in the plane of the feed means rotates about an axis that is perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the conveyor means.

The advantages of the apparatus of the invention lie especially in the fact that only one device, and one that forms a part of the labeling machine, is needed for the selective decoration of bottles with horizontal foilwrapping or diamond-style foil-wrapping, and that, furthermore, to dispense with an additional orientation procedure, the application of the foil and of a body label is performed simultaneously in a single working cycle.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a diagrammatic perspective view of the foilwrapping device;

FIG. 2 is a schematic elevation of a portion of FIG. l showing the movements of the foil wrapper in the case of horizontal foil-wrapping; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the movements of the foil wrapper in the case of diamond-style foil-wrapping.

Referring. now more particularly to the drawings, in FIG. 1 the ribbon of foil 2 coming from the supply roll 1 is first passed over the guiding and backing roll 3 and glue is applied to it at 5 by the glue applicator 4 on a limited portion of its area. As it continues on, the ribbon of foil 2 cornes within range of the printing cylinder 6 and the perforating cylinder 7 which is provided with punches 8 and which scores the ribbon along a straight or irregular line. The foil ribbon thus prepared is then taken by the feed means 9 which consists essentially of the endless belts 10 passing around the drive rolls 9. The velocity of the bands 10 gripping the foil ribbon 2 between them is somewhat greater than the peripheral velocity of the cylinders 6 and 7, so that the individual segments of foil 11 are separated from the continuous foil ribbon 2 and from one another.

As FIG. 1 additionally shows, in the plane of the feed means 9, 4l0, a transfer means 12 is disposed, which consists essentially of the disk 14 continuously revolving about its shaft 13 and having pivoting levers 15 bearing rotatable suction members 16 at their free ends. The pivoting movement of levers l5 may be brought about by means of cams and cam followers, which are not shown, while the limited rotary movement of the suction members 16 may be produced, for example, by means of toothed belts or toothed segments.

The orientation of the foil segments 11 for either horizontal foil-wrapping or diamond-style foil-wrapping is performed, as shown diagrammatcally in FIGS. 2 and 3, on the path betwen the feed means 9, l0, and a con-l veyor 18. In the case of horizontal foil-wrapping (FIG. 2), a clockwise relative rotation of about 90 about its own axis is imparted to the suction member 16 and hence to the foil segment 11 picked up from the feed means 9, 10, so that the foil segment is presented inthis position to the conveyor 18. In the case of diamondstyle foil-wrapping (FIGS. 1 and 3), the suction member 16 performs a counterclockwise rotation of about 45 about its own axis, so that a diagonal of the rectangularA foil segment 11 will run in the direction of the long axis of the bottle 21.

In both cases, i.e., both in the case of horizontal foilwrapping and in the case of diamond-style wrapping, the suction member 16 is subjected, through a forward pivoting movement of lever 15, to a momentary acceleration which takes place on the path from the feed means 9, 10, to the conveyor 18. It is in this manner that any necessary adaptation of the shorter intervals between the foil segments 11 in the feed means 9, 10, to the greater intervals of the divisions of the conveyor 18 is accomplished.

After the foil segments 11 have been oriented by the rotatory movement of the suction members 16, they come within reach of the conveyor 18 which rotates about a vertical axis 17 and which is in the form of a cylinder carrying grippers 19, which grip respective foil segments 1l and bring them into the path of movement of the bottles 21 approaching on a rotating table 20. At the same time a body label 23 is applied by a second gripper cylinder 22 revolving about the axis 17. After the attachment of the foil segment 11 and of the body label 23, the bottle is rotated by about 90 in a known manner, and guided through devices for spreading out and smoothing the label and the foil segment.

Advantageously the movement of pivoting levers and of suction members 16 carried thereby about shaft 13 is cam controlled so that while said shaft turns at a constant speeed the levers do not rotate about said shaft at constant speed. Thus, the levers are first slowed down when approaching a foil segment 11 to be gripped and are thereafter-speeded up to cover the necessary distance. The segments are delivered to the conveyor 18 which is described more fully in Pat. Nos. 1,143,968 and 3,116,193 as well as German Patent No. 412,646.

The invention has been described showing a 0 (or orientation as well as 45 but obviously any intermediate orientation can be established by suitable control of rotation of suction members 16 about their own axes.

It will be appreciated that the instant specification and examples are set forth by way of illustration and not limitation, and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

I claim:

1. In a container labelling machine including a roll of wrapping elements, means for dividing said roll into individual wrapping elements lying in a common plane, means for receiving and applying said individual wrapping elements, and means for conveying containers past said receiving and applying means whereby a wrapping element is applied to each container, the improvement wherein said receiving and applying means includes (a) a plurality of members for gripping respective wrapping elements, each gripping member including a suction member with all of said suction members lying in the common plane of said divided individual wrapping elements, (b) means for rotating said plurality of gripping members continuously about a first axis, (c) means for rotating each of said gripping members about a second axis parallel to but spaced from said first axis after each of said gripping members has gripped its wrapping element, thereby to cause said wrapping element to rotate simultaneously about the first axis and the axis of said gripping member and to change its orientation in its own plane so as to establish a predetermined orientation relative to said containers, the extent of rotation about said second axis determining such orientation, and (d) a rotatable transfer member`for bringing said oriented element to a location where said element is picked up by a container as it is moved by said container conveying means, the axis about which said transfer member rotates being per- 

1. In a container labelling machine including a roll of wrapping elements, means for dividing said roll into individual wrapping elements lying in a common plane, means for receiving and applying said individual wrapping elements, and means for conveying containers past said receiving and applying means whereby a wrapping element is applied to each container, the improvement wherein said receiving and applying means includes (a) a plurality of members for gripping respective wrapping elements, each gripping member including a suction member with all of said suction members lying in the common plane of said divided individual wrapping elements, (b) means for rotating said plurality of gripping members continuously about a first axis, (c) means for rotating each of said gripping members about a second axis parallel to but spaced from said first axis after each of said gripping members has gripped its wrapping element, thereby to cause said wrapping element to rotate simultaneously about the first axis and the axis of said gripping member and to change its orientation in its own plane so as to establish a predetermined orienTation relative to said containers, the extent of rotation about said second axis determining such orientation, and (d) a rotatable transfer member for bringing said oriented element to a location where said element is picked up by a container as it is moved by said container conveying means, the axis about which said transfer member rotates being perpendicular to said first axis. 